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Ignition L.A. studio moving to Austin
Ignition Entertainment's Los Angeles branch is moving to Austin, Texas, reports IGN. "All business will be continuing as usual," a company representative told the site -- which, for Ignition, means typically unusual business. While no official reason was given for the closure of the Glendale, Calif. publishing offices, a fresh start in Austin is an unsurprising choice given the city's rich history of game development and the state's business incentives. Maybe the move is simply a matter of consolidating Ignition's two U.S. studios, L.A. and Gainesville (Fla.), and having them meet halfway. The move from L.A. is said to have no effect on the company's current staff or projects, according to IGN, while Ignition still won't confirm exactly what is going on in Florida. A month ago, the Florida branch was reported to be closed and staff rumored to be forced out to Texas (or to find a new job). The studio's sci-fi FPS Reich was assumed to have suffered the same uncertain fate as Ignition's WarDevil game, which was left in limbo following the closure of the Ignition's London-area development studio in late September. Of course, WarDevil has since been resurrected as "Project Kane" and is supposedly in the hands of a "core team" and on track for a Q4 2011 release. See? We told you: unusual business. [Image sources: UTV Ignition; 25or6to4 (Wikipedia)]
WarDevil not canceled after all, will now live on as 'Project Kane'
Ignition has decided against canceling WarDevil, a game that has been in development at the publisher's London studio for five years now, despite earlier reports to the contrary. Instead, the game will live on under the title "Project Kane" -- a title to which we've heard references before. WarDevil and Project Kane are now combined into one project at the London studio, with a projected launch date of Q4 2011. The London studio was to be shuttered back in September, but Ignition changed its mind the next month. The studio lives on and will continue developing the game under its new title. Ignition was also forced to shutter its Florida office this month, which was knee-deep in development of a sci-fi FPS called Reich.
Video: Ignition's canceled sci-fi FPS, Reich
It's been a rough quarter for Ignition. Earlier this month, the company was forced to shut down its Flordia branch and had to cancel a game it had in development for five years, WarDevil. Today, that pain is increased five-fold, as some footage of Reich, a first-person shooter in development at the Florida offices and, naturally, a casualty of the recent layoffs, has emerged over at GameVideos. Based on the five different videos we've embedded past the break, we're pretty bummed out. Reich looks like a neat sci-fi shooter with quality physics. What say you all?
Report: Ignition Florida shutting its doors
More trouble for Ignition Entertainment -- after the recent closure of its London studio and the subsequent cancellation of WarDevil, it looks like Reich is headed for the same fate, as the company's Florida studio is now closed, according to a report from Gamasutra. Unconfirmed reports say that all of the studio's 70 employees were let go by the company and escorted off of the premises by executives and police officers. Calls to the studio went unanswered, although a rep from Ignition says that Reich is still being worked on, but that the company is "refocusing it in the right direction." If the rumors are true, that just leaves Ignition offices in Tokyo and Los Angeles, with El Shaddai left standing as the main title in development for the company. Even if Reich is still in development, rumors say it's cost the company as much as $23 million so far. Quite the disaster indeed.
WarDevil canceled after five years
After five years in development, Ignition's ambitious action game WarDevil has been canceled, according to Develop. The final nail in the game's coffin follows last month's reported closure of Ignition's London studio (formerly Digi-Guys) where the long-suffering game was being crafted. (As it happens, Ignition now says the London studio will soldier on as the hub of a refocused digital development operation, but that's neither here nor there.) So, who could have ever guessed this would happen? Why, you, dear reader. Here, let's look at our past WarDevil headlines and see if we couldn't have CSI'ed this thing out. Ignition shutting down London studio, fate of WarDevil under evaluation (This is kind of an obvious one. Let's dig deeper.) WarDevil resurfaces in bizarre (original) Xbox demonstration ("Resurfaces" is what we call a "danger word." Also: This story was from a year ago.) Relax! WarDevil isn't cancelled (Justin from August of 2009 feels really bad about leading you astray here.) WarDevil returns in first new trailer in two years ("Returns" isn't as bad as "resurfaces," except when you add the phrase "after two years.") WarDevil: Enigma screens drop out of the sky (This story from 2007 is notable only because someone somewhere realized that the unintentionally hilarious subtitle would have to be removed.) Our hearts, of course, go out to those hurt by the cancellation, but we'd like to think the reaction of those closest to the game was less "How could this happen?" and more "Oh, well, naturally."
PSN Blacklight: Tango Down to include exclusive map
Click to enlarge Ignition has revealed that one of the "exclusive" features of the PSN version of Blacklight: Tango Down will be a new map. Dubbed Crossover, the battleground sees the Order -- a.k.a. "the bad guys" -- hijacking a train and loading it with explosives. Conversely, Blacklight (the good guys) must sabotage the tracks in order to save the train -- and, hopefully, avoid derailing it into a massive kablooey! The PSN version of Blacklight will also include a new, previously announced "Join in Progress" feature.
Blacklight: Tango Down advances to PSN on Oct. 26
Blacklight: Tango Down 2 may already be in production and on schedule for next summer, but Zombie Studios isn't letting go of its promise to bring Blacklight: Tango Down to PlayStation 3 owners across the globe. Publisher UTV Ignition has announced an October 26 release date for the download-only FPS in North America, followed by a November 3 release on the European PSN. In the announcement, UTV says the game will come with "PSN-exclusive content," including a "join-in-progress" option for multiplayer -- the publisher teases more info on the exclusive content will be revealed "shortly." Like it's Xbox 360 and PC counterparts, the PS3 version of Blacklight will be priced at $15 (£10/€13) when it arrives on PSN.
Ignition shutting down London studio, fate of WarDevil under evaluation
Ignition Entertainment is in the process of shutting down its west London development studio, reports GamesIndustry.biz. The closure will result in an unspecified number of layoffs, and stalls the progress of WarDevil and another project, uh, Project Kane. The studio is expected to officially close on October 31. Formerly known as Digi-Guys, the Ignition London studio, located in Ealing, has been toiling over various incarnations of WarDevil for years. A "WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within" demo was first shown at TGS ... 2005. The last update on the game dates back to roughly a year ago, when Edge magazine toured the studio and saw two tech demos (one on the original Xbox!). According to Ignition group chairman Hassan Sadiq, the mysterious WarDevil and the even more mysterious Project Kane just passed new, six-month proof-of-concept phases, and "the board and studio management are currently evaluating [...] whether the required quality will be achieved by completing internally or with an external partner." Ignitiion, which was acquired by Indian media conglomerate UTV in 2007, will continue to operate its corporate headquarters out of London, with a focus on publishing; though Sadiq assured that projects underway at Ignition's other studios in Austin, Gainesville (Fla.), Beijing and Tokyo (where the intriguing action game El Shaddai is in development) are "ramping up." The company's most recent release was Zombie Studios' Blacklight: Tango Down, a downloadable mutliplayer FPS.
El Shaddai director explains the inexplicable game
After playing the TGS demo for Ignition Entertainment's starkly unique action game, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, we were intensely curious about ... well, how it came to be. It's such an unlikely combination of action, platforming, art and Biblical themes, that we honestly couldn't figure out how someone could come up with it. According to director Sawaki Takeyasu (who started at Capcom doing art for Devil May Cry, and moved to Clover Studio and then Platinum Games before starting his own company, Crim) it was an equally unlikely combination of corporate edict and personal idiosyncracy. Find out about its origins, as well as the game itself, in our interview. Joystiq: The first thing I wanted to ask about is the style: it's very abstract. How did that style come about? Sawaki Takeyasu: The art style in the game is based on three major points: the intention is to, before that, it's not that I tried to make it eccentric and make it stand out. We wanted to make it simple, a simple visual. The second point is that it's a constantly changing screen, so that even if you leave the controller for a few minutes then it's still moving, it's always moving. Another thing is variety in levels. There is so much variety and different styles of levels, so that you can be constantly entertained and so that we can bring refreshment and change throughout our gameplay.
Edwin and Enoch: El Shaddai's official jeans
Are you over your initial shock about Ignition's El Shaddai, the abstract, psychedelic third-person action game based on the Bible's Book of Enoch? Now that you've assimilated that into your worldview, prepare to have your mind blown once again: this Bible-themed game includes co-marketing with jeans. An Ignition rep explained to us that Lucifel (a certain fallen angel you may have heard of, who goes on to a measure of infamy after the game's time) is capable of traveling through time at will, and enjoys the 20th century, bringing back styles from the era into the distant past for himself and his pal Enoch. This includes the jeans both wear, which are Edwin brand. In turn, Edwin will offer special El Shaddai styles of its jeans in Japan, on display in glass cases at TGS. The rep was careful to explain that El Shaddai wasn't conceived as a vehicle for clothing marketing -- we believe this, given that one of the in-game "models" is, you know, the devil, which can't be one hundred percent ideal. %Gallery-102674%
El Shaddai preview: Confusing my religion
El Shaddai is the most bizarre possible amalgam of seemingly random elements: simple, casual-friendly controls, exciting action, thoroughly abstract visuals, side-scrolling platforming ... oh, and Bible stories. And pants. I don't know what publisher Ignition Entertainment envisioned for its first internally produced, original retail game, but there's no way in Hell this was it. El Shaddai, though, is much more interesting than most of the games at TGS -- you know, those games that show evidence of having been made by sane people.
El Shaddai's ascension bumped to Spring 2011
Previously, Ignition Entertainment had tentatively dated its super bizarre action game, El Shaddai, for "2010." Given the impending closure of that release window, the publisher has revised that time frame to "Spring 2011." The new date was revealed in a TGS preview of the game published by Famitsu. Ignition has also released a grip of new images sure to impress those among us with a proclivity for naughty anime -- we especially covet the totally accidental upshirt shots (like this one). Ignition is said to be focusing its Tokyo Game Show efforts on El Shaddai, so expect to see more on the game in the coming days.
Swarm gameplay trailer plays follow the leader
While the first trailer for Hothead's Swarm didn't feature any gameplay, it did show off the many, many ways to kill the game's main characters -- those little blue ... things. We're feeling that Lemmings vibe again in this new PAX trailer, which introduces the first gameplay footage. All those gruesome deaths? Just as comically effective in game. Head past the break to see for yourself.%Gallery-101328%
Ignition Entertainment rebrands, focusing on digital content
Deadly Premonition and El Shaddai publisher Ignition Entertainment recently underwent a bit of restructuring, leading it to adopt part of the moniker of its parent company, UTV Group. The publisher, henceforth named UTV Ignition Entertainment, will now focus on delivering downloadable titles on digital platforms including PSN, XBLA, Steam, Facebook, Google Games and the App Store. The change was made to satisfy "a demand to market and publish games at more inclusive price points that maintain the same level of quality as their boxed counterparts," UTV Ignition chairman Hassan Sadiq explained in a recent statement. We suppose that's an admirable goal, though we'll never forgive them for missing the perfect opportunity to name their business "Remix to Ignition." For shame, you guys. For shame.
This Wednesday: Monkey Island 2, Blacklight tango on XBLA
Newly remasted, LucasArts' Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge has charted a course for Xbox Live Arcade, where it will arrive alongside Blacklight: Tango Down tomorrow, July 7. LeChuck's Revenge plan hasn't deviated since it was finalized a week ago, but the scheduled Blacklight drop zone was called into question last week when the game's publisher, Ignition Entertainment, could not confirm the date. Today, Ignition formally announced the multiplayer shooter's deployment on XBLA for tomorrow, adding that the PSN and PC versions will arrive in "the coming weeks." BlackLight: Tango Down will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge can be had for 800 MSP ($10).
Second part of El Shaddai trailer is just as confusing as the first
Part two of the debut trailer for El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron has been released. Much like the first part of the trailer, it doesn't do much to explain what the heck is going on, but it's positively dripping with style. No, seriously. It's dripping. Get it away from the rug.
El Shaddai trailer is full of angels, arches and apocrypha
Ignition's upcoming adaptation of the non-canonical Book of Enoch wasn't playable at E3 last week, so the game's debut trailer (posted after the jump) is one of the few sources of info we have on El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron thus far. Of course, that info is pretty bizarre: You're a priest who's tasked with finding seven fallen angels -- a task made more difficult by said angels' hordes of followers. There are also a number of perilous platforming segments, which we doubt were taken directly from the original religious text.
Hands-on: Blacklight: Tango Down
Over the last several years, Zombie Studios has devoted a lot of its resources to the so-called "serious" games business, including training products for the US Army. With its latest project, Blacklight: Tango Down, Zombie is breaking out of this serious mindset without straying too far from the military theme. Blacklight sounds great on paper: a hefty downloadable multiplayer shooter, with 12 maps and 7 game types, set in near-future Eastern Europe and inspired by Blade Runner with a focus on customization. "Over two trillion weapon and armor combinations," quipped a representative during a recent preview of the game's co-op mode, which was held at publisher Ignition Entertainment's Calif. offices. In practice, however, I found that Blacklight -- at least, in its currently unfinished state -- didn't come together to be a very entertaining experience. What did impress me, though, was the deep weapon and armor combination system. %Gallery-86900%
Meet Arc Rise Fantasia's summons, voice actors
The latest media released for image epoch's WIi RPG Arc Rise Fantasia introduces "Rogress," the game's summoned creatures. They act as powerful attacks, of course, but also apparently as the source of the "Ray" energy that powers the game's cities and vehicles. The trailer above shows the game's first Rogress, Simmah, merging its power and wisdom with the protagonist. We'd like to tell you more about what happens in the game, but we're distracted by the voice acting. Much like Infinite Space, all we can say about it in this game is that it is present and audible. %Gallery-93821%
Ignition reveals Japan's next pseudo-religious action game, El Shaddai
Ignition Entertainment's Japanese branch has posted a teaser site for a new PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. A teaser trailer shows a cel-shaded (ish) character looking out over some white dunes -- and then "E3 2010." In the meantime, we can learn more from a Famitsu article about the title. El Shaddai stars Enoch, a human who works as some kind of secretary in heaven, and is charged with stopping fallen angels from flooding the Earth. He's assisted by a powerful angel named, uh, Lucifer. Sawaki Takeyasu, who did character art for Devil May Cry and recently worked as an artist on Infinite Space, is directing El Shaddai for his new independent studio. The gameplay has been designed to emphasize simple combos for new players. It seems likely that Ignition will clarify the game's "2010" release date at E3.
